With GM having been particularly tight-lipped over the ‘C8’ Corvette for ages, the cat is officially out of the bag. And now that’s the case, we get the sense we’ll be hearing quite a lot about it in the weeks leading up to the 18 July 2019 reveal.

Just a couple of weeks on from at last confirming the existence of the car - which will switch from a front to a mid-engined layout for the first time - Chevrolet has rolled out a camouflaged test mule once more.

This time, the C7’s replacement can be seen parked up at GM’s Bowling Green Assembly plant, and for a good reason: it’s been announced this week that a second shift and 400 jobs will be added to the plant, all to cope with the production of the new mid-engined ‘Vette.

Since opening in 1981, Bowling Green has built over a million Corvettes. With the extra shift, the plant will have a 1300-strong workforce.Speaking about the announcement, GM boss Mary Barra said:

“The Corvette’s iconic status owes so much to the men and women of Bowling Green, where it has been built exclusively for almost 40 years…This is the workforce that can deliver a next-generation Corvette worthy of both its historic past and an equally exciting future, and today’s announcement gets us one step closer to its reveal on July 18.”

The current, front-engined 'C7' Corvette will make way for an all-new mid-engined model

As for the C8 itself, we don’t know a whole lot about it, although it is thought to have been delayed by electrical issues and the more powerful engines twisting the frames of prototypes. Reportedly that there’ll be turbocharged engines in the mix, but the entry-level variant is expected to use an N/A V8.